Qualcomm, the largest maker of chips for smartphones, announced that the company’s chips will be powering 30 devices with 5G connections coming to the market later in 2019.
Qualcomm’s innovative technology gave it the powers to dominate the smartphone market and huge profits. Qualcomm also faced regulatory pressure in several phone markets due to its negotiation power and dominance.
The San Diego-based chipmaker’s earnings have suffered in the wake of weakening demand for 4G smartphones and a worldwide legal fight with iPhone maker Apple, which is no longer a customer, Bloomberg reports.
Qualcomm will be in a position to improve profit by bringing 5G smartphones in the hands of consumers this year. 5G network will grow further in 2020, Qualcomm President Christiano Amon said.
Phone service providers such as AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, SoftBank, China Mobile, among others, will have an incentive to add and grow their 5G subscriber base by upgrading to the new network.
Qualcomm Technologies said its 5G chipsets will support 5G network rollouts across North America, Europe, Japan, South Korea, Australia and China.
Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform, the Snapdragon X50 5G modem and Qualcomm RFFE solutions including Qualcomm QTM052 mmWave antenna modules with integrated RF transceiver, RF front-end and antenna elements will be helping manufacturers to make 5G devices in both sub-6 GHz and mmWave bands.
Research agency TrendForce said phone suppliers such as Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo, One Plus, among others, may launch 5G smartphones in 2019. But investment in 5G infrastructure by mobile operators will not be completed until 2022.
The production volume of 5G smartphone models would be 5 million units this year, a penetration rate of 0.4 percent, since the construction of 5G related infrastructure has not been completed.
The BOM costs of 5G smartphones would increase by 20-30 percent due to the costly 5G modem, components including Wi-Fi module and PA module that will be used enhance the phone reception and performance of the signal filter.
